So, a few people said that they considered this game a collect-athon which I never considered before! So my question (if anyone cares) is what do you guys consider a collect-athon? Is it defined as collecting a threshold of items to progress? Or is it by the sheer amount of items you have to collect? I've always assumed the second, but idk...

You can really see how Heavy Iron Studios really had passion for the IPs they worked on like this game and SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom.

I never forgot about this game. This game was one of my absolute favorites growing up. I actually bought a PS2 again recently and this was one of my first repurchases. It still holds up 20 years later!

Hoping for a remaster someday.

I could die happy if they remastered this game

Fun fact, this game is the only Video Game that Don Knotts ever voice acted for. Kinda fitting it's a Scooby game too, Scooby has always loved its celebrity guest stars, and Don Knotts has always been one of their favorites.

The sound effects in this game can instantly trigger memories for me, even when it's been well over a decade since I've played. Most memorable sound design I have seen in a game, tbh.

8:27 - 8:31 Okay, hear me out. Snack Gates serve a lore purpose. We all know the saying ”Would you do it for a Scooby Snack” , right? As Scooby-Doo gets deeper and deeper into the adventure, into more danger, and having seen things get worse and worse, he needs to eat more Scooby Snacks, to keep having the bravery to push on. If he’s eaten enough, on the way, great, he keeps on pushing, brave as he be. If not? He’s not brave enough to go into what he sees as even worse dangers, yet.

28:46 ”My, that’s positively shocking!”

I have such a weird history with this game because back when I was a kid my mom always acted like she doesn't understand video games games, yet she at some point, out of curiosity picked this game up to relax after work, which was super weird at first because I would stop playing for the day, then spend the next day over at a friends house and one day later boot this game up and have just no f*cking clue where I even am, so I had to give her a different savestate, at which point she would 100% the damn thing before I even beat the Mastermind on the original save.

Fun fact! That final boss crash/error was not specifically limited to the Xbox version, it ALSO occurred on the PS2 version. Funnily enough, I got the game from my folks as a gift. My mom helped me a lot because I was just a kid, and we eventually got to the final boss when we ran into a bit of a unique glitch. You could enter the final boss 1 time. And if you didn't get it right, which we didn't cause I mean its a first time boss fight, way before the grinded level of skill of the souls days. After that, as you lost, the boss fight would start...and you would spawn OUTSIDE the boss fight. And there was nothing you could do, the save was fully corrupted, and no matter how you played it you could never beat the game. It was so frustrating that my mother actually called THQ to see about getting a corrected copy, as we had bought the game at a retail store. They wouldn't budge, and so for about oh...20 or so years, I couldn't beat the game, and it just sat on my shelf and got eventually loaned out to someone as a time waster as we informed them about the glitch.

Fast forward about 20 years and my sister buys it for me for Christmas during a rough patch I'd had. I had been having trouble finding a job, and she thought that A.) A funny old game would cheer me up a bit and B.) Finally I would have a chance to get some closure. Which, interestingly enough, she even talked to the seller to be SURE that this copy did not have the game breaking glitch. I then proceeded over a weekend to do a full 100% completionist run. And man, it was so satisfying to beat it. It was also extremely fun to go through the nostalgia.

Its a bit of a collect-athon to do the full 100% run, what with all the scooby snacks, monster tokens, and of course levels to traverse. All in all, you can theoretically beat the game without collecting everything, but those scooby snacks are necessary to fully progress since you have to use the scooby snack gates to get where you need to be.

As for the story, well...I mean as a kid, I had a feeling there was gonna be a bit of a twist, after beating it as an adult, it seems kinda like a classic version of the show. The villain was right in front of us the whole time. We just didn't have all the pieces in front of us. Plus, this is pretty explicitly built for kids, but, not gonna lie its still fun. Which I think was the real point of the game.

The camera was my nemesis though the depth perception in this game is probably what killed me more often than the ghouls. And that's saying a lot considering how many there are.

Also the Creeps from the Deep (Whom I affectionately but also with massive spite) I called cheep cheeps, as they made that annoying vocalization and were a massive massive pain in my rear as a kid (and also terrified me as a child).

Its one of those fun childhood memories where I would honestly love to see if something like this could ever be made again to similar or better quality.

I think if they were to go back and build around this concept again, one of the things I agree with for game design here is that they need to re-order some of the items and rewards. Mind you, I don't know of any way to make the tar more fun, it is universally one of THE more annoying traversal traps. But that's the thing, its not used as a trap, its used as a traversal control. If it were more of a trap, a correction tool, to encourage you to think over your platforming or practice a bit more, then I could see it as being something less annoying. Cause otherwise, I spent most of the early game just clearing zones to expressly get to the Black Knight to get the Goulashes and thus that problem isn't one anymore. I do think the slippery floor problem in the fishery levels should be solvable with the suction cups though, so that you can backtrack and NOT have to be absolutely screwed by the Cheep Cheeps. I think the tokens are fine as they are, they're a bit optional, but I also think something more unique for a 100% would also be absolutely awesome, especially because any kid who works that hard to beat this thing deserves a little somethin somethin for the trouble lol.

If I ever had the money, I had the idea to put my weight behind a faithful recreation or remaster based on the 3D improvements of the last 20 years. I doubt it will ever happen, but I genuinely believe this kind of whimsy and FUN are exactly what the modern gaming playscape needs. Because all I see anymore are corporate live service dream killers, and I think the storytelling single player scene could have room for something this unique and fun. I had thought of just going "Hey can we buy the rights to X IP to do this game? Or buy X IP (depending on how old it is/how less loved it is)?" Cause any game studio that goes back to bring back the classics/most fun ones could be absolutely dynamic. Imagine a studio could do a game like this, then Sling back Sly Cooper or some other classics back onto the board.

“It’s not like they got your name all over them… well actually, they do.”

This game deserves more love. Sure it’s flawed, but so are some of the greatest games of all time. I really hope they remake it. Or perhaps a sequel would be pretty cool.

I loved the atmosphere of this game. The environments genuinely felt foreboding and desolate which made me even more motivated to find my friends and progress through the game. Also, Don knots.

You've awoken a long forgotten childhood memory. I played the shit out of this game and totally forgot it existed. It was so good

This is probably the single most nostalgic game to me, I’m still humming the music to myself all these years later. Even speedran this game a couple times a while back. Great video man! Would love to see more of these commentary videos on other games :)

I'm starting to see a lot of YouTubers talk about this game. Especially over the past couple years and I can't help but wonder if it's partially because of Heavy Iron's BFBB getting the rehydrated treatment a couple years back. I'm glad though, as I believe this, along with BFBB, are some of the best licensed games ever, and show that even those types of games can be well done when made by developers that care about the source material.

I remember this game fondly, and have played it a few times recently. One of the thing you didn't mention was the holiday easter eggs that would be active on certain dates like valentines day, christmas, new years day, and other holidays.

"This game is only really good for one playthrough."
Speedruns the game over and over again.
Makes sense.

It's pretty amazing how many licensed games I picked out as a child, and how many of them were in the small pool of good ones

Honestly I have always loved this game it really does feel
Like a love letter to classic Scooby-Doo even the music in certain levels of this game captures the essence of the underscore of Scooby-Doo witch definitely makes it feel more like the underscore that you'd hear in the show itself

This game legit scared me as a child. I feel embarrassed now, but young me was terrified by these "ghosts"

God i loved this game, would play every weekend when visiting my father. Never managed to finish it but thats some memories i wont forget